Asking the Right Questions

“Hindi nga, what change do you expect of the government?”

Laughter.

This answer would tell me a number of things. One would be, the question is so absurd, it doesn’t even merit an answer. Another conclusion I would come to is that people don’t expect to be popped with that question in the middle of a casual conversation. I suppose “change in government” could be ranked together with other notorious questions that would be met with either laughter or skepticism, like, “Would you marry me?” or “Is that another head I see growing out of your neck?”

With the elections this May, we stare in awe and disbelief as candidates’ ads start coming out on TV (I stare in awe and disbelief—nay, sometimes I collapse in seizures on the floor), and can’t help but think of the lengths these candidates go to, to occupy seats of public service. In this day and age, politicians are tainted with suspicion, which have been confirmed and reaffirmed time and again with the ruckus of Congressional hearings, Senate inquiries, and a backlog of cases at the Office of the Ombudsman. We hear of who did whom in, who gained from what, or who deceived whom. Every few years or so, we citizens get together, and exercise our sovereign right to select our public servants. With the mess that spills and splashes all over the media every time we switch our television sets on, or check out the newspapers, one can’t help but think what fools we are, what exercises in futility these so-called elections have become.

So I hear a lot of young people are opting to skip out on the elections. Oh well. There goes our nation’s future.

“Hindi nga eh, pambihira. What change do you expect of the government, what with the upcoming elections?”

Silence.

Now, this is the point in the conversation wherein the person you’re talking to knows you’re dead serious. What would this answer tell you? Hmmm. I can only think of three things. Either the person I’m talking to has never considered the question before, owing to the incredulity of the question given the hopelessness of our political situation, or that he or she is seriously considering the question, and carefully thinking of an answer. Or—the person I’m talking to has decided that the conversation has gone waaaay beyond the point of no return, and thus has decided to tune me out of their version of existence.

Despite personal skepticism, one always hopes for a contemplative sort of silence. A sort of relaxed version of the dead air on a first date, as each one racks his or her brains for interesting things to say. Think, think.

Maybe I should rephrase my question. “What changes do you want to see?”

Let’s forego the stigma of being overly patriotic, and hurl ourselves into the realm of reality. Not detaching ourselves from the larger picture, where do we stand in all of this? Hopefully not on the sidelines, or worse, beyond a looking-glass. Passive acceptance is one of the surest signs of a stagnating society. I don’t know where I read that, but it sounds cool, doesn’t it? I also think it’s true. And if there is a society that passively and powerlessly accepts the half-baked dregs given them, then that is definitely not the Filipino people (historically speaking, at least).

Elections shouldn’t be simply an exercise of “who is better than whom.” What it ought to be is “What do I want?” Maybe it’s time to start thinking of what ought to be rather than just focus on what is there. Then maybe we’ll have an idea of what we want to happen, and actually want it badly enough to ask for it, and ensure its reality. Maybe it’s time to start thinking of ourselves in relation to the changes we want to see.

Maybe these upcoming elections will see us through better-informed choices. And maybe, just maybe, that can be the start of us actually knowing what we want. The elections being an exercise in futility or not, what is at stake is too valuable for us to not put our two cents in. People who have influenced this world have, at one time or another, been called fools, anyway.

So, what changes do you want to see?